Express Your Self ~ Living Life Out of Your Inner Joy
Do you plan your next adventure seeking to gain JOY from the experience, or do you adventure as an expression of the JOY you already possess within?
I consistently need to remind myself to live my life as an expression of Who I Am, instead of meeting each day like a hungry sponge, needing to be filled, so I can be Who I Am.
When I make plans for my weekend, whimsically summoning visions of peace-filled journeys and forays into nature, it’s easy to seek happiness and joy in my imaginings – to come at those experiences desiring some sort of inner fulfillment to eclipse itself within that planned activity.
When I find myself in this space of seeking fulfillment, joy, happiness, or peace to make me feel better/whole/happy; to fix me, heal me, spark me or content me, I know it’s time to take a break and turn within.
My favorite poem in the entire world bears these simple words that spiral round and round my heart now.
Whole, I enter the Whole.
There is nothing the world can give me that I do not already possess.
I know that sounds like a shocking statement in some ways. We are taught to believe that we came to this Earth to take from it, instead of give to it. We are taught to believe that we need to go out and get whatever it is we want in life.
Certainly, there is much to be said for working hard, and creating outward displays of “success.” But, that “success” means little without inner peace and joy. Our unhappy celebrities we pin high on precarious pedestals are perfect examples of this.
Before you begin your next adventure – grand or small – be it, cleaning the house or scaling a large mountain, take 5 minutes to go within & find your inner joy. Then, see what happens!
If I am seeking to gain joy from the scent of a hike in the red rocks of Sedona, or an afternoon soaking my bum in the healing waters of Oak Creek, I am making myself a broken, swiss-cheese holey sponge, seeking to be filled up or filled in with fleeting moments of happiness.
True joy comes from within.
Five minutes of quiet solitude and meditation remind me that I am already whole. Simply breathing in and out, leaving the chatter of my mind aside for a few moments, and deeply inhaling the energy of life, I am reminded of my true nature. I am a whole being, a divine soul…a divine soul, having a human experience.
Now, my weekend plans become expressions of who I already know I am – a peace-filled, content, joyful, radiant being. The experience of joy continues throughout whatever experiences I am having, instead of passing me by like a leaf on a breeze.
Whole, I enter the Whole.
I might say it to you every day from here on out, because it is the simplest path to radiating, overwhelming, pleasurable peace and joy in your life:
Take five minutes. Five minutes. Or ten or twenty if you can…and simply get quiet, go within, and remember who you really are.
Then, tell me what you plan to do with your weekend, with your today, your tomorrow…to express your Self!
Practicing this simple awareness of your Self, your soul, your inner wellspring of joy and contentment, daily, will make washing dishes, changing diapers, maneuvering traffic…joyful expressions of who you already are. It will give magic to the mundane.
Happy Trails!